...the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America..."
- Hubert H. Humphrey, "Gun" magazine, Feb. '60

The bolt wouldn't lock to the rear and the rifle was full of gunk. It had been repaired in 1949 and the barrel jacket is much newer than the rest of the gun. Look at that itty bitty hole in the muzzle!

Thank you, gentlemen, and it was quite a shock, I can tell you, to see the old pogo stick on the wall. "The rest of the story" is that the pawn shop owner, while a nice man himself, was not the owner of the rifle. His employee of many years collects and sells antique guns of all kinds and had bought this Mod 8 several year ago and didn't even know what it was! He thought it was some kind of shotgun at first and then saw it was a rifle but never knew what ammo it used or even the model number. I showed him how it worked and that it needed repair (by myself, of course) and he accepted my counter offer. His initial price was in line with which most people think they can get for one of these on GB. My offer was more in line with what they actually sell for and, while I'm sure he made money, we were both rather pleased with ourselves. I'll be having peanut butter and ramen soup for the rest of the month, but no matter: I have a .25! And she works now!

The nice pawn operator also has a nifty model 14 in .30 on the wall. Might have to see him about it next month....

These guns are exceedingly rare here in the Southeast. This is only the third one I've ever seen in the wild and it's the second one I bought over the counter, the first being my 81 which I found at a gun show. I passed up an 8 at another pawn shop a couple of years ago because it had obvious mechanical issues and the guy wanted too much for it. Of course, the guy sold it two days later. I still kind of kick myself for letting that one go.

But these guns never really sold in the South, probably because the region was so poor, particularly after the civil war. Mostly Winchester, Marlin and cheap sporterized military rifles were used. So, to see an 8 running loose around here is a real treat.

olskool wrote:nice find! here is mine i found one day in a little shop. it is also in 25, it did a number on this coon, those 85 gr. noslers bt. is bad to the bone!

It sure did! I've got a little ammo coming in, and I've got some cases I can neck down, so it's going to be a little while before I can make this thing say "bang". Hopefully, I can knock down a few varmints after deer season.

i use imr 3031 behind that nosler, it shoots better than i can. i just run 30 rem. brass through the 25 rem. die. at first i had no 25 rem. dies so i necked the brass with a 250-3000 die, it worked perfect until i found a nos set of bair dies on ebay. every now and then you may lose a piece of brass due to stress from sizing down the necks, it's a small price to pay to be able to shot a part of history......

I have never harvested an animal, but I have killed quite a few.............